Time for Change? Report details deficiencies of current Dover police station

By Michelle Kingston

mkingston@fosters.com

Friday, November 2, 2012

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Courtesy Photo
Dover's current police facility sits in the basement of City Hall.

DOVER — Police Chief Anthony Colarusso Monday made a report on the condition of the current police station available to the public as workshops and meetings continue on the Capital Improvements Program.

The report reveals what the current station is lacking and what a new facility would require.

The proposed $9.9 million police station, included in the CIP, has been needed for quite some time now, according to Colarusso. He said the Police Department Strategic Planning Committees of 1997, 2006 and 2012, comprised of citizens, has supported the need for a new facility, as has the Dover Cost Containment study by Bennett Associ- ates in 1993, Planning Department and Lassel Architects Space Study of 2001 and the Space Needs study by AG Architects in 2007. Additionally, Dover's Master Plan is also asking the facility be a priority in the CIP.

Hampton, Rochester and Somersworth are surrounding communities with state-of-the-art, modern, updated facilities. They were built in the last ten years. At this time, Dover uses the Somersworth Police firing range and keeps their Crime Scene Services and Mobile Command vehicles and other large specialty vehicles off-site at the former National Guard Armory located on Oak Street because of the lack of space at their current facility.

“Storing the vehicles off-site requires officers to drive to the armory to retrieve the vehicle before responding to a critical incident or major crime,” the report said.

Colarusso reported the new facility should contain the following features the current station does not have: handicap accessibility, multi-use room, public rest rooms, proper ventilation, electrical and heating and air conditioning, a weapons cleaning area with adequate ventilation, fortified ground floor windows and a secure reception area, adequate holding cells, supply storage areas, modern locker rooms and a kitchenette and break room. An indoor vehicle storage space for large specialty vehicles, such as the Crime Scene Services truck, is also requested.

The current station, according to the report, “suffers with a substandard HVAC system, unresolved problems with ventilation and mold, leaking gray water pipes, electrical issues, ground water incursion, as well as facility security concerns that do not comply with standards of a modern police facility.”

The Dover Police Department has been located in the basement of City Hall since 1935. The facility is 14,000 square feet, which Colarusso said is not big enough. The report states the facility's minimum size should be 28,000 square feet.

“The facility is inadequate, with officers and other employees at work stations in the hallways,” the report said.

The report lists a number of storage, space and health issues including no temperature control in the office, unfortified windows, lack of privacy for crime victims, cluttered work spaces, the inability for private personnel meetings, one fax machine for the entire department, lack of proper ventilation and mold. The facility has three separate evidence storage rooms, with on off-site. Each room is reportedly at maximum capacity. Many rooms within the department are multi-purpose, such as the briefing room also being used as a lunchroom, a weapons cleaning area and a report writing area.

The new facility is proposed to be built in the Orchard Street parking lot. Dover has had their police facility in the basement level of City Hall since 1892. From 1892 to 1933, the station was located in the basement until it was destroyed by a fire. For the next two years, it was temporarily located in the “store of Frank Davis on Locust Street.” The station moved back into the basement in 1935 and has been there ever since.

The report lists a number of City facilities constructed since 1935, including Dover High, Woodman Park, Garrison Elementary, Horne Street and Dover Middle schools and their expansions, the South End Fire Station and its expansion, the north end fire station, the Ice Area and its expansion, the Jenny Thompson Outdoor Pool and Butterfield Gymnasium, the McConnell Center, North-End Water Tower project and multiple major road construction projects.

“We've been talking about this for a long time,” Colarusso said. “Now is the time to do it.”

The CIP will be discussed and ultimately approved by City Council in December once the Planning Board forwards its recommendations along to them.

For more information on the CIP, contact the Dover Planning Department at (603) 516-6008, e-mail the Director of Planning and Community Development, Christopher G. Parker at c.parker@dover.nh.gov, or visit the Planning Office located on the first floor of City Hall.

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The cramped lobby in the current police station has no temperature control and unfortified windows.

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Hampton's new police facility that was built in 2004.

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The facility’s cell block, which was renovated in 1988 and consists of five individual cells, is the most recently constructed part of the current police facility. A 2009 risk management study conducted by experts in the field found that the current holding facility is substandard and a liability, as such the cells are no longer used.

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The Somersworth Police facility is 13,500 square feet and was constructed in 2008.

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Lack of storage space is one of the biggest issues in the current police facility.

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This is a circa early 1950's photo of the 1935 police station. (Courtesy Photo)